Fate's Mistake
by xSoliloquy
Summary: They all died in the final battle. Fate had other plans, however, and sent them back once more. AU slightly. KagomexSesshomaru. Now Complete and Being Revised!
1. The End

A/n: I hope you guys like this new story! I have most of the chapters done except three, so as soon as I get some reviews for the first one the next will come up, and so on. Enjoy!

Note - I've now finished this story, as you can see, and it's currently under going some changes and editing. I'm horrified by the mistakes, misinformation, and contradictions that plague what this story was supposed to become. If you've read this story, then I apologize for how poorly drawn out the chapters are. I hope to have them all repaired and corrected within a month or two's time. I may add new scenes to some of the chapters, but mostly what I'll be doing is a lot of rephrasing, detailing, and editing errors.

This chapter has already been revised, so I hope you enjoy it better than the last one. It has more detail.

Chapter One: The End

Kagome Higurashi ran as fast as she could through the muddy landscape. She just couldn't believe this shit, she was so angry at god right now. First, Inuyasha was killed by a demon that even SHE had no problem destroying.

Then, not an hour apart, Sesshomaru was severely wounded, probably to be dead soon. Miroku was injured by sucking Naraku's poisonous insects into the wind tunnel, and Sango broke her ribs, and leg, rendering her completely invalid for the remainder of the battle. Shippo was no where to be found, and Kirara was busy trying to protect her master and keep the numerous demons away from her.

This was definitely NOT her day.

What had they been thinking, attacking Naraku's fortress so soon, when they weren't nearly ready and Naraku had in his possession all but one of the Shikon Jewel shards?

She had managed, somehow, to keep that one last pure shard out of his evil clutches. It was a miracle he hadn't killed her for it yet.

As she contemplated the outrageousness of it all, she noticed a demon coming up on her back and fast, so she released some of her miko energy and sucker punched it through the demon's chest. It went down while letting out a horrible screeching sound. Sighing, she slowed down gradually as she saw a village coming up ahead, terror showing clearly in her eyes.

"Fuck! If they see this village, hundreds of innocent people will be slaughtered. I've got to lead them away somehow." Kagome said to herself, looking around for any possible way to draw the demons who were chasing her away from the village without them knowing that it was there.

Realization slowly dawned on her, and she groaned in frustration over what she had to do. There was only one way to distract the group behind her, and that was to give them what they wanted.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she silently prayed to whatever god was listening that if she got through this, she promised to never say another bad thing against them.

Then Kagome turned, and charged into the horde.

Sesshomaru cursed, being thrown back into another tree and getting yet another wound inflicted upon him. His eyes narrowed as he watched the demons that he was currently fighting close in on him.

Pushing his pain into the far corners of his mind, he drew his sword high into the air and growled, then slashed the first demon that was within reach, kicking off from the tree and going into a full blown battle rage once more, getting weaker and weaker as he went.

He knew he wouldn't last much longer, but he'd be damned before he gave up without a fight.

As Sango sat off on the sidelines, she watched Kirara fighting to keep the monsters away from her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a demon slip past her neko's defenses and advance upon her menacingly.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow that would end her life. In a quick movement, Miroku shot in front of her and took the blade. His eyes widened as he felt the excruciating pain burst through his entire body.

In the background, Naraku cackled evilly at all of the destruction being brought down upon the team.

Sango cried out Miroku's name, taking the blade out of his back and thrusting it into the demon before her. She took her love into her arms as tears began to form.

"Why, Miroku? Why did you do that!" She screamed, hugging him close to her.

"Because... Sango.. I love you.." Miroku said, his eyelids dropping down slowly. "Please don't be mad at me.. I just couldn't stand to let anything happen to you.."

"Oh Miroku.." Sango leaned her head down to his, kissing him gently. "I love you too.." She whispered.

"Don't cry, Sango, my love.." Miroku said, then his eyes closed and he left the world.

"Miroku!" Sango screamed in horror. "Miroku, please wake up! Please! You can't leave me!"

Another vicious demon was closing in on her, and Sango looked up at it brokenly.

What reason was there left to live? Her clan was gone, one of her dear friends were gone, her family was gone and her love was gone.

"I'm sorry, Kagome.." Sango said softly, closing her eyes and waiting for the approaching demon. "Miroku.. I'll be with you soon."

The blow was made, swiftly and quickly. Sango's form went limp as she left for the netherworld.

Kagome headed right toward the batch of demons that were chasing her. She let one single tear fall down her soft cheek, as she ran straight into the chaos.

She cried out as she felt hundreds of claws rip and tear at her flesh, her body being pierced by numerous blades and her blood flowing freely out of the wounds. She would be dead long before anyone would know what happened.

"Mommy!" Shippo cried out, staring at the demons and his bloody mother being killed.

Kagome jerked her head toward the voice and her eyes grew wide. "Shippo, run!" She yelled.

"No momma, I won't leave you!" He cried as he tried to run to her, only to be stopped by a demon. The demon brought his claws down and ripped through little Shippo's chest. Shippo screamed and fell back, dead.

Kagome's eyes began to glow purple, her miko taking over her as her entire body became engulfed in bright blue light. Any and every demon within a mile of her was instantly destroyed.

The lights faded and Kagome was brought back down to the ground. She picked up Shippo's small body and began walking back toward the main fight. Naraku would pay, she vowed while tears ran rapidly down her face.

Before she could make it more than a few steps, Kagome collapsed from her wounds and fell into darkness, her soul leaving to join her son.

Sesshomaru roared as he was pierced through the heart, his offender quickly being killed by his claws.

He stumbled backward and pulled the blade out of his chest, blood bursting forth. At this point you couldn't tell what color his clothes had been, so many wounds bled on the white material that it had turned a deep crimson color.

As he laid back against a tree, he watched Kirara be brought down by a particularly nasty demon.

Sesshomaru's vision dimmed, and his last thought before passing away was that he would have his revenge. No matter how many lives it took.

A/n: Okay, you all probably want to kill me for this but I promise that everything will be fine. Read and review. Hope you liked it.


	2. Another Beginning

A/n: This chapter's now been revised and edited. Enjoy, and remember to Review even though the story's done! I love to know that people still enjoy it.

Chapter Two: Another Beginning

Kagome opened her eyes slowly and sat up, looking around at her surroundings. She was in a field, with a river going through it and a bridge going across it. Where was she? Hadn't she died?

Scanning her surroundings a bit more thoroughly, she found that Sango, Sesshomaru, Miroku, Inuyasha, Kirara, and Shippo were there as well.

Now it was getting _really _weird... Inuyasha was dead! So was Shippo!! How were they here? And weren't Miroku, Sango, and Sesshomaru mortally injured? Where was the blood and pain that they should be in? What in the HELL?!

"No, actually..." Said a male voice coming from across the river. A figure walked over the bridge and onto their side of the field. He had long blue hair, green eyes, and markings on his face just like Sesshomaru's, with the exception of the crescent moon. "It's The Crossing."

"What? None of us said anything, you jackass! What are you, nuts? And just where the hell are we, and who the hell are you?" Inuyasha said in his usual lovely tone.

The man laughed and looked at each of them.

"Actually, I read minds. I was just answering my dear Kagome's question. Don't give me that look, I'm not any threat to her, or any of you." He said in a silky tone, walking closer to the group. "I'm no harm to anybody, really. I'm an angel. My name is Ateni, and this place is, as I said before, The Crossing. It's where you are either pulled into hell, or sent across the bridge into heaven."

"So, this is basically Limbo?" Asked Sango in a confused tone. Miroku placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him to calm her.

"Sort of. I've heard of this place before, and I have heard of Ateni as well. One of the guardians who make sure people go where they are supposed to. But I have never heard anything about him making personal appearances to the dead. Why are you here before us?" Miroku asked in a suspicious tone.

"Ah, ever the observant one, aren't you Miroku? You are quite right, indeed. I never come before the fallen, but this is a special case. You, all of you, were not meant to die in the battle with Naraku. Something went terribly wrong, and God has sent me to correct it in any way I see fit. Along with the other guardian who, as you can see, has not yet arrived. When my partner does get here, I'll tell you the rest." Ateni told them, then took a seat and waited with them.

Sango looked around and sighed. She had hoped that she'd be reunited with everyone that she lost by now, but, glancing back at Miroku by her side she smiled. At least she was with him, and for now that was all that mattered.

Ateni smiled at her and she blushed, realizing that he had read her mind. She got a bit closer to Miroku and smiled up at him happily, and he tightened his hold on her, kissing her cheek.

Kagome giggled as she watched the two lovers, then looked over at Inuyasha and wondered what it would have been like had they ended up together.

In their life, Inuyasha had spoken with Kagome and explained his decision to her. He'd decided to release her from her promise, and wanted her to move on. She accepted it and wished him a wonderful life, not being as wounded as she thought she would have been.

She summed it up to being prepared for it long before because of his frequent visits with the dead miko. Yet, fate had been cruel and had claimed Kikyo before Inuyasha could tell her his decision and that he loved her solely.

Now he was alone, and so was she, but they had a sibling-like friendship that they wouldn't give up for the world.

Sesshomaru had decided to join their ranks after what had happened to Rin. He had gone into a rage that could only be suppressed by destruction, and in particular, Naraku's demise.

Naraku had killed Rin while she had been waiting for Sesshomaru to return from a mission he was away on.

It was a horrible loss, and Kagome was very stricken by it. She had loved Rin as a daughter, just like she loved her Shippo.

Now, here they were, taken down in a battle they had been fated to win. It made Kagome wonder what was next on Fate's list to mess with their emotions.

Ateni listened to all of their private thoughts, and he himself wondered what decision would be made for them. He also wondered how a mistake like this could have happened.

_He and his partner had been patrolling the borders between Heaven and The Crossing, making sure that nothing was amiss, when a vassal of God himself ran to them, out of breath and panicking.  
_

"_Your majesties, there's a problem! The plan has been tampered with! Something has been thrown horribly amiss! We don't know how to fix it, everything's gone completely and terribly _**wrong**_!!"_

"**WHAT**_?" Ateni had shouted, and followed the vassal back to the Room of Life, where all of Fate's designs were kept. They had to find a way to fix this…_

Glancing at the bridge, he stood as he watched his companion cross it in a hurry.

"Here she comes now." He told the rest of the group, who immediately looked over and watched her arrival.

Kagome was awestruck. The woman that cross the bridge looked absolutely beautiful. She had long golden hair, with purple eyes and three blue streaks on her left cheek. On her forehead was a green star.

She stopped next to Ateni and bowed lowly.

"Forgive me, I was caught up in a mess I had to oversee before I could come tend to this one." She spoke to Ateni in a voice that sounded like a million beautiful flutes playing together in unison.

"It's alright," Ateni assured her as she rose and smiled at everyone. "This is Feiari, my companion and long-time love."

Kagome gasped and couldn't help but exclaim, "She's so beautiful!"

"Yes, she certainly is." Ateni agreed, while Feiari blushed and meekly said "Thank you."

"Alright down to business then. What shall we do with this mess, Feiari?"

"Well, I had a thought on my way here… I'm not sure you'll agree but just hear me out 'Teni, alright? Why don't we just give the script a rewrite? We could set back the clock, and give this group of courageous young people different lives. Let's send them back on different paths, including Naraku, to eventually come together in the final battle.. or, well more like the second final battle." Feiari said, looking at Ateni unsurely.

"Different destinies and origins, but the same goal? It sounds perfect, though it will take a lot of work… But yes, I agree with your idea, let's do that then." He replied.

"I will take the females, Shippo, and Kirara. You take the men, alright?" Feiari said.

Ateni nodded, and the men followed him as he went to one side of the field. The women and Shippo, including Kirara followed Feiari to the other side.

"Alright, first, Sango, come here dear." Feiari said, and waited for Sango to come before her. "You may have only one wish for your new role. What shall it be?"

"All I want is to stay with Miroku. My wish is to end up with him in this new life, my lady." Sango replied and bowed.

"Wish granted, off you go." Feiari snapped her fingers and Sango was gone.

"Next shall be Shippo."

"I just want to be my momma's son. That's all." Shippo told her.

Feiari smiled and nodded, sending him off as well.

"Kirara, your turn. I think I have the perfect destiny for you." And Kirara was off also.

Now it was Kagome. Kagome thought long and hard and only came up with one thing that she could desire more than anything else.

"I want to have someone destined for me. I just want to be loved."

"A wish from the heart, none more pure. Your wish is granted, and I wish you luck, Kagome." Feiari told her happily, and she was off as well.

Ateni did the like with the men. First he asked Inuyasha, and the wish was what anyone could guess. To be full demon.

Then, it was Miroku, who wished that he would have Sango no matter what.

Last it was Sesshomaru, who could wish only one thing. That Rin would be back with him, but as his actual daughter when the time came.

All of these wishes were granted, and their new lives were written in stone. The beginning was a new and fresh one for all of them.


	3. Meeting

A/n: Sesshomaru will _not_ be in character during this story. You are forewarned. New lives means new attitudes.

Chapter Three; Meeting

Kagome Higurashi was born into a dog demon clan, the daughter of Deduri and Kakiko Higurashi, two very powerful and well-respected demons.

Kagome had been beautiful from the start. She had long flowing golden hair, two stripes on both cheeks that were a lovely green, with emerald green eyes, and the mark of her clan, a black rose, on her forehead.

She had lived very happily, until the day a demon appeared and ripped it all away from her. Kagome was 143 in demon years, just barely 11 in human years, when her parents and clan were decimated by a renegade demon on an endless search for power.

Kagome vowed to destroy him if they ever met again, and picked up her broken heart, heading on a journey in search of him.

At present she was walking down a beaten road when she felt his power, just a few miles off track. She used her demonic speed to rush to the location, in hopes of finally having her justice. What she saw there wasn't quite what she had expected.

There before her was a battle going on, one fighter being the damned demon she was searching for, and the other was a male dog demon.

A very _handsome_ male dog demon.

His hair was silver and went down to his knees; he had magenta markings on his wrists and cheeks, beautiful golden eyes, and a blue crescent on his forehead. He was gorgeous, and Kagome found her self unable to do anything but stare at him.

Then she got some sense knocked into her. She was standing there ogling a guy when the enemy she vowed to kill was right before her!

She drew her twin swords and quickly set to work on battling him, along side the other dog demon.

"What? Who are you?" The man she'd just been drooling over asked her in a surprised tone.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi of the Higurashi dog demon clan, and you?" Kagome said as she sunk her right sword into the opposing demon's flesh and cut off its arm.

"Sesshomaru Taisho of the Taisho clan. Do you have something against this demon as well?" He asked as he brought down his sword and sliced the demon's head off. What happened next shocked the both of them.

The demon turned out to be nothing but a mere puppet.

"Damnit not again." Kagome groaned as she stared at the thing. "When I find the real one boy am I going to pound his face in."

Sesshomaru chuckled and examined the petite demon in front of him. She was elegant, graceful in battle, had a little temper, and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink after finishing a fight. Her eyes intrigued him, such a cold and chilly shade of green. Like nothing he'd ever seen before.

She was, in all aspects, stunning.

Maybe he'd hang around and speak with her for a while longer; she seemed like just the type of warrior he would enjoy joining up with in battle.

Kagome looked over at Sesshomaru and noticed him staring at her. She blushed and walked over to him, holding out her hand in greeting.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sesshomaru. Would you like to help me defeat that stupid demon once and for all? I could really use your assistance. I promise to be great company, too!" She told him.

"Alright, I'll join you then. This should be quite interesting." Sesshomaru said, shaking her hand.

Kagome smiled softly, and they made their way back to the dirt road to continue on their search for Naraku.

Kagome would steal glances at him every once in a while, still shocked that he had actually joined up with her. He was so hot. What she wouldn't give to have someone like that become her mate.

Staying on that train of thought, Kagome began daydreaming happily of their children and what it would be like during the mating ceremony.

Sesshomaru sniffed the air, and decided that, since it was almost dark, they should build camp.

"Let's camp here, there's a spring nearby." He told her as he stopped.

Kagome was still in her own world, and so she continued walking. Right into Sesshomaru.

"Oomph!" She grunted as she collided into his back and fell backward.

Sesshomaru, with lightning speed, turned and caught her before she hit the ground.

He pulled her up into his arms and set her back down on her feet, while she blushed madly.

"Thanks Sesshomaru. I'm sorry about that; I'm a bit of a klutz."

"No problem. How about we camp there." He said, pointing off path to just a short distance away, where a field was that had a spring and a lake right next to it.

"Perfect!" Kagome said happily, and they walked over to the site.

Once there, they both chose chores to carry out to help get camp fixed faster.

"I'll set the fire and get some firewood, and cook dinner, if you kill something to eat, Sesshomaru." Kagome told him.

"Alright, be back in a second." He said, and left at a quick pace.

Kagome busied herself collecting the firewood, then came back to camp and started the fire. Out of her pack, she got a blanket and laid it down onto of the grass, and then she sat down and waited for Sesshomaru to return.

He soon did, and handed Kagome the deer meat he had gotten. Kagome cooked the meat, and gave Sesshomaru his meal, then ate her own.

While they were eating, they made small talk.

"So, what did Naraku do against you?" Kagome asked him, taking a bite out of her meat and chewing it gratefully.

"Well, he killed my mother. My father had been away, and when he returned, he went crazy and tried to kill the wrong demon. We hadn't known at the time that it had been Naraku who had killed my mother, so my father naturally thought that it had been his current enemy that had done it. My father was killed in battle with that demon, and left me to avenge my mother." Sesshomaru said slowly, sighing as he continued to eat his food. "What about you?"

"He... killed my entire clan. I'm the last one left... and I've sworn vengeance. He will die, even if I die killing him." She told him, eating the last of her meat, and then settling back on the blanket she'd laid out. She stared up at the stars for a long time, thinking of the past, and how good it would feel when she finally destroyed that bastard.

Sesshomaru leaned back against a tree trunk, taking it all in. He wondered how this girl could keep herself going after the devastation that she had been through.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you, Kagome. I guess we have something in common, though. That bastard destroyed both of our lives." Sesshomaru told her, staring off into the distance.

"Yeah... we will defeat him, won't we?" She asked him.

"Yes." He said simply, that was all he could say. He didn't know when, he didn't know how, but they would get him.

Nodding her head, she smiled at Sesshomaru, her new friend. Her only friend. She was happy she'd met him today, now she wasn't so alone in the world.

"Goodnight, Sesshomaru." She said, pulling the extra blanket over her and turning on to her side.

"Goodnight, Kagome. Sleep well." Sesshomaru replied.

Kagome soon fell asleep, while Sesshomaru guarded the camp.


	4. Kagome's Past

**Chapter Four;**

Kagome woke up groggily the next morning and blinked a few times to catch her bearings. Looking around, she remembered where she was. In the field where Sesshomaru and her had decided to make camp.

**Sitting up, Kagome looked over to find Sesshomaru gone. She figured that he'd be back soon, so she set out to make some fresh tea.**

She took a pot from her bag and made her way to the spring that was across the field. Once she got there she filled the pot with the fresh cool water, then went back to re-kindle the fire.

Soon she had the fire going and the water boiling. Dropping some tea leaves in the water, Kagome leaned back against the forest floor and waited for the tea to be done.

She thought back to her mother, her father, and the friends that she lost. They were all so caring and compassionate, and they hadn't deserved the fate that had been brought to them.

**As Kagome remembered exactly what had happened that day, tears bagan to form in her eyes and the pain came back anew.**

**Deduri, her father, was going on a routine check of the village and grounds. He had hugged her and kissed her mother goodbye before he left. Her mother, Kakiko, was a little nervous about his leaving, because rumors were going around that a strong demon no one had even been able to scratch was going around killing clans and families. Her father assured her mother that he would be fine and that he would be home for dinner.**

**Feeling reassured, Kakiko had let him go, and then set about her normal activities for the day. She cleaned their hut and tended to her garden, planting new flowers and humming while she worked.**

**Kagome had been with her friend, Yuki, and they were out picking flowers and talking about boys. Kagome hadn't thought anything of what her mother had worried about, she just put it down to her mother's pregnancy. Worrying was natural when you were expecting, she had heard often.**

She was so excited about her new baby sister being born in just a day or two.They hadn't decided for sure on what the name should be for her, but Kagome was hoping that they would name her after her grandmother who had died two years earlier. She had been a good woman and Kagome missed her dearly.

**While the girls were playing in the gardens, Kakiko was starting to feel very painful. Her stomach hurt, and she felt dizzy. She came in from the back yard and sat down on a mat on the floor, drinking a cup of water in the hopes that soon the pain would be gone.**

**It didn't go away though, it only got stronger, and she was forced to cry out at a sharp pain through her belly button. Hearing her cry, the mid wife and Kagome came running into the hut, asking what was wrong.**

Kakiko told them everything going on with her and the midwife pursed her lips, a worried expression on her face.

"This could be early labor. We need to get you to my hut in order to monitor your dialation and body statistics. I'll give you a harmless herb for the pain once we're there. Do you think you can walk?" She asked.

"I think so.. With some help, perharps." Kakiko replied, a grim expression playing along her face, mixed with one of severe pain.

Kagome came forward and grabbed her mother's hand, helping her to stand slowly, then slid her arm over her neck and supported her as they followed the midwife out of their hut and down the dirt path a little, turning left into the midwife's hut.

There, the midwife set into action, issuing orders and preparing numerous herbs. Kagome layed her mother down on the cot on the floor and covered her up to keep her warm, then followed her instructions quickly. She was very worried about her mother, and even more worried about the baby.

Two hours later, through a lot of pain and screams, Kagome held her baby sister in her arms and watched as she slept peacefully. Kagome was so happy, and her mother had even decided that Kagome was right, and that her idea was a good one and named the baby after her grandmother.

Kagome sighed out of her thoughts as she watched the color of the water turn murkey brown. What was past was past, there was no use bringing up that pain now when she couldn't change anything.

****

She poured herself a cup of tea and waited for Sesshomaru.

When Sesshomaru made it back from taking a bath in the nearby hot spring, he found Kagome leaned against the tree he'd occupied the night before, sipping tea and staring off into space with a melancholy expression on her face.

He reguarded her for a few moments, taking in her slumped posture and the open expressions flashing across her face. He guessed that the reason for the pain flashing through her eyes had to do with Naraku and the death of her family and friends, and other clan members.

**He hoped that they would find Naraku soon and kill him, for her sake and for his. For peace. He found funny the fact that in order to gain peace, you had to fight and kill. That defeated the purpose.**

Sighing, he walked into the campsite and sat down. Kagome snapped out of her daze and offered him a cup of tea, which he accepted. They sat there, enjoying the comfortable silence that was between them, both entertaining their own thoughts as they sipped tea.  


**  
Shortly after finishing both of their cups, they poured out the rest of the tea, packed their things back up, then they put out the fire and set off on their journey once more.**


	5. Enter Inuyasha

**They had been traveling for several hours when this enraged psycho fairy started attacking them, accusing them of killing another fairy and setting a curse upon the village just down the road.**

They'd denied doing so profoundly, but this little fairy was unconsolable.

"We did not kill a fairy, damnit!" Kagome shouted at the fairy, becoming more pissed off by the minute. She had better things to do than stand here and argue with a pint sized creature.

"You didn't," the fairy told Kagome, pointing to her. "He did." She said, pointing at Sesshomaru. "He's disguised himself by changing some things about him, but it's him, I'm sure of it! There could be no other like him!" she screamed and launched another dizzying circle-round-the-demon attack.

A vein twitched in Sesshomaru's left jaw, and he quickly flicked the fairy away from him.

"We do not have time for this, you worthless creature." He said to the fairy, then turned and started to walk away, Kagome doing the same.

"Aruitha's face will always haunt your dreams, Inuyasha!" Said fairy screeched, then flew off into the wind.

Sesshomaru faultered, pausing as he looked back at where the fairy had once been, deep in contemplation. 'It was Inuyasha, huh? I might have figured.' he thought as he turned back and continued on, but this time following a familiar scent that he hadn't smelt in a long time.

Kagome wondered what it had been that had made him pause back there, but didn't question it. He respected her privacy, and she respected his. If he wanted to tell her, he would. He was her friend, and her only one, she didn't want to make him mad at her.

**They walked for a long time in silence, then Sesshomaru said something to her that made her stop.**

"Kagome, Inuyasha is my younger half brother." He told her, sighing. He walked over to a tree and leaned against it, staring at her for a response.

"Oh." That was all she could say.

"I have not seen or spoken to him in over twelve years. He ran away from home when we were younger, before Naraku struck. We have the same father, but not the same mother. My father had a mistress, and she was with child. My mother never found out about it, but I did. His mistress kept it a secret that Inuyasha was my father's son, saying that she had kept a secret lover in a different reigon, and that she only visited him on very rare occasion. I found out that it was a lie, one night when my mother was sleeping and I found my father and she talking, and holding each other. I couldn't tell my mother of his infedelity, it would have broken her heart."

"I see. I understand why you never told you mother, but why would Inuyasha kill some fairy?" Kagome wondered.

"I supposed he didn't mean to, or just was annoyed and didn't think anything of it. He's always been brash about things."

"What sort of things? I don't imagine a fairy could have caused too much trouble for him to want to kill it."

"Well, everything really." Sesshomaru answered her, then decided to continue on. "I wish to find him and talk to him. I will understand if you don't want to continue on with me because of the detour in finding Naraku, but if you want to you can still accompany me."

"Of course I'm going to go with you, Sesshomaru, you're all I've got right now, my only friend." Kagome said, and true to her words, her emotions showed easily in her eyes and proved the fact.

"Then let's be off." Sesshomaru turned away from the tree and quickly resumed his earlier direction, Kagome follwing along right beside him as they went.

It didn't take them long to find the demon, who was standing in the middle of a river trying desperatly to catch a fish or two for his dinner. He seemed to be on the right track, before he reached into the water with both hands, tried to swipe a fish, lost his balance and plumeted into the cool water.

Kagome couldn't hold back a giggle at seeing a demon fall so comically. Sesshomaru just huffed and walked over to the rivers edge, glaring down in the water at his brother.

Inuyasha quickly got to his feet and shook the water off like a dog, then he looked up and finally noticed their presence.

"Sesshomaru, what the hell are you doing here? How did you find me, and who is that?" Inuyasha asked in one breath, pointing at Kagome.

"I'm here because I have to be, I found you by following the trail left by a dead fairy, and that is Kagome Higurashi, of the Higurashi clan." Sesshomaru said much slower, in a patient tone, even though Kagome could tell that he was extremely annoyed.

She figured that the mere presence of Inuyaha there annoyed him, and she could understand why. Inuyasha was the product of an affair his father had conducted with another woman, while Sesshomaru's mother was faithful and believed her mate to be as well.

**Kagome would be pissed off as well.**

"Okay, you're here, now what the hell do you want?" Asked the irate demon, Inuyasha. He obviously wasn't happy about his brother's presence.

**"I do not have to reason out my actions to the likes of you, but for the sake of your sanity I shall tell you." Sesshomaru said, sniffing. His voice resembled a father berating their child. "You've wondered into the eastern lands, killed one of their people, and have, in doing so, caused trouble between the west and the east. Now I ask you; What purpose do your actions serve, other than to annoy me?"**

"I see you haven't changed one bit Sesshomaru; always thinking that the world revolves around you, and that anything someone does is meant to annoy you." Inuyasha growled, decidedly ignoring Sesshomaru as he went back to trying to catch his dinner.

**Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, and he took a step closer to his brother with a murderous glint in his eyes. It was quite hilarious to then hear a sudden growl, not from either demon or a stray animal, but from Kagome's stomach. She blushed a deep red and smiled.**

**"Whoops. Guess it's lunch time?" She asked, chuckling nervously.**

**Rolling his eyes, Sesshomaru gave one more death glare to his brother before turning and walking away, Kagome following closely behind him.**


	6. Exit Inuyasha

After a few attempts, Kagome finally got a fire started. Once that was done, she set to work dressing and cooking the two rabbits that Sesshomaru had caught and killed. Inuyasha had tagged along behind them and was now sitting up in a tree behind her, glaring at Sesshomaru, while Sesshomaru was standing at the river washing his claws from the blood on them, ignoring Inuyasha.

Kagome sighed. They were acting like a bunch of two year olds. She had no idea why Inuyasha had followed them and now wouldn't leave them alone, Sesshomaru didn't talk to her as much as he usually did because Inuyasha was around and he had to show his "Macho" side. Her words, not his, and she also missed being alone with Sesshomaru. Ever since that day four months ago, when they had met, he'd always been by her side. The only one she had left in the world, and now someone else was trying to ruin it. She wished that she could just make Inuyasha go away, so that it would be again just her and Sesshomaru.

Inuyasha was too hard headed to just leave, so Kagome took it upon herself, seeing how Sesshomaru wouldn't talk, to tell Inuyasha just where to drop off. In nicer words, of course.

"Inuyasha, you hate your brother, you don't know me, we're not forcing you to, so tell me why are you staying here?" Kagome asked as she brought some of the rabbit meat out and onto a plate made of wood. she set it aside and covered it from the bugs, then set to cooking more of it.

"Because, you dumb wench, he," Inuyasha jerked his finger toward Sesshomaru, "owes me. So, I figure that while he's in the area I should take advantage of him having himself a good woman who cooks and cleans and shuts up. Until now, at least." After saying those things he leaned back against the tree, closing his eyes. "So would ya shut the hell up and finish cooking my dinner?"

Kagome, by this point, was seething and near to murdering the pathetic whelp. She had stood up from where she was sitting, a fire had entered her eyes that could make the biggest demon in Japan piss himself. Her face was set in an evil scowl as she glared at Inuyasha, and she clutched the stirring spoon in her hand tightly.

"Oh Sesshomaru.." She yelled over to him. He turned and looked at her, holding back the smirk.

"Yes, Kagome?" He asked innocently.

"YOU HAD BETTER HANDLE THE MOUTH ON THAT DISGRACEFUL IDIOT BEFORE I DO IT FOR YOU!" She screeched.

"By all means, go ahead and do it for me dear." He said, now letting his smirk play firmly across his face.

Kagome's face was now boiling red, for many different reasons. Firstly because she was so unbelievably pissed off, secondly because Sesshomaru had called her dear and he was very hot with that smirk, and thirdly because the heat from the fire was getting to her.

So she did what any normal woman would do in these types of situations; She blew up.

"A! Don't call me his woman, because I am NOT anybody's woman. B! Don't order me around like some chambermaid and think that you can get away with it, I'll have you know that I'm the last living direct decendant in the Higurashi clan! And C, if you want food, GO. GET. IT. YOURSELF. YOU. PRICK!"

With that said, she threw the spoon at Inuyasha, who ran off and away from her in a hurry. Kagome was breathing heavily, now very tired from that much screaming, all she wanted to do now was get some food into her stomach and then go to sleep. But first something had to be dealt with. She turned to Sesshomaru.

"Why did you do that?" She asked meekly.

"Do what?"

"Why did you call me dear in front of him after knowing what he thought? Was it just to upset me?"

Sesshomaru stared into her beautiful eyes and thought about his answer. He could easily say no, and tell her just exactly why he had called her dear. That it was because it had slipped out, not because it was intentional. He had been calling her dear in his thoughts for a few days now. He sighed. But the he could tell her yes, and she would accept it as the truth and be angry for a day or two, then they'd be normal again.

"Yes. I enjoy watching you angry, you're very b.. funny, when upset." He said quickly. He had almost called her beautiful.

Kagome's eyes flashed angrily, but she didn't say anything to him. Crossing her arms across her chest, she let out a indignant "Hmph." and turned away from him, fully intent on ignoring the asshole.

Sesshomaru sighed and shook his head, saying softly, "I'm sorry Kagome, I didn't mean to anger you."

He turned and began to walk away when she stopped him.

"Are you hungry?"

As he turned back to look at her, he smiled. She seemed to have completely forgiven him and was now poking at the fire with the long stick she had used to cook the meat. She looked adorable to his eyes.

"Yes." He said and sat back down.


	7. Detour and Allies

A/n: I'd like to give a MAJOR thank you to all of my reviewers! You guys are awesome! As thanks, you get another chapter!

Whoo look at me! Two chapters in two days, I'm on a roll!

Also, once this story is complete, each and every one of my precious reviewers will get their names put on the last page in thanks. This story will probably be concluding in a few more chapters.

Thanks! Enjoy, please!

Chapter Seven; Detour & Allies

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"WHAT!" Kagome screamed. She was pissed. Instead of going after Naraku quickly, Sesshomaru decided to take a detour into some village and spend the day relaxing. She couldn't understand it. One minute he's eager to rip the half demon's head off, and the next he wants to go and blow a precious day of hunting the evil bastard down. What was up with that?

"Kagome, look at you, you're worn out, you need to relax for more than an hour. We'll get right back on hunting down Naraku tomorrow, I promise." Sesshomaru said, crossing his arms in a manner that told Kagome that he'd get his way or else.

Kagome humphed and rolled her eyes. "Fine." She said, and started walking into the village.

Sesshomaru had a triumphant smirk on his lips as he followed Kagome into the village. The village was a big one, with many shops selling various things. It also had a few bath houses, each with intricate designs on the walls and doors. They looked so inviting that Kagome made haste to one and quickly paid for a spring.

One of the many women workers bowed to Kagome, who bowed back, and motioned for her to follow. Kagome did as requested and soon she was relaxing in a nice hot spring filled with different bath oils to scent it and soothe her muscles.

'Maybe this _was_ a good idea after all. This bath feels so nice, I really needed it. Note to self; Make sure to thank Sesshomaru when I see him later.' Kagome smiled at the thought of Sesshomaru. He was so tough and strong, and held up a front that said that he could handle anything and didn't need anyone, but she knew better.

They had connected and he showed his real self around her, and Kagome had, she finally admitted to herself, fallen deeply in love with him. She wondered if he returned the feelings, and sometimes when he was especially kind to her she believed that he did. Oh how she hoped that he did. She needed someone in the world and who better than a lover? Who better than Sesshomaru?

Sighing from all of her troubles of the mind Kagome quickly sank lower into the spring and closed her eyes. She'd just find out tomorrow.

Sesshomaru walked down the dirt roads that laced through the city, looking at the various shops and the wares. He couldn't help himself; He was thinking of Kagome.

He didn't know what it was about her that entranced him so. It was like he was falling in love with her delicate pale skin, beautiful golden tresses, sparkling green eyes that could tell you everything she was thinking and feeling in an instant. Sesshomaru paused briefly to think about what had just crossed his mind. He had admitted all of those things, and had even thought that he was falling in love with Kagome.

He knew he was. Not just falling in love with her though. He was truly, madly, and deeply in love with the demoness. Closing his eyes for a moment his mind remembered when she had smiled at him, so happy and carefree. His heart felt like it was on fire, being lit with a gentle warmth and glow at the mere thought of his Kagome.

It had taken him a while to realize what the feeling was, since he had never been in love before. He decided that it was the greatest feeling ever, and that he couldn't wait to tell her how he felt.

'Wait I can't tell her how I feel, she probably doesn't even feel the same way about me!' He thought sadly.

Continuing his walk through the village, he came across a vendor selling different types of jewelry.

"Step right up my fine young man! Looking to buy something for your mate or intended? Well, look no further! We have jewelry in stunning gold and silver, with stones of such fine quality as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. We have bracelets, necklaces, rings, and earrings, everything a woman could want!" The store vendor, a chubby, short little cat demon with beady yellow eyes, announced to Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru paused momentarily to stare at the items set before him. They were stunning pieces, he had to admit. He was very tempted to buy something for Kagome.

'And why not? Whether she loves me or not makes no difference, at least I'll have another chance at putting a smile on her face.' He thought.

Keeping to that idea, he studied each piece carefully before finally seeing the perfect gift. It was a gorgeous silver necklace with a sakura blossom shaped pendant, made from pure pink rose quartz.

"How much for this necklace?" Sesshomaru asked the man selling all of the accessories.

"Ah, exquisite choice. That necklace was hand made by a powerful priestess, it is said to protect the wearer from harm. For that I will ask 250 yin." The man replied.

Sesshomaru pulled out the correct amount of money and tossed it to the man.

"Thank you! Have a wonderful day."

Sesshomaru nodded his head in thanks and put the necklace in one of his pockets to give to her later.

---

Kagome got out of the hot spring and wrapped a towel around her self, going over to her satchel. She bent down and started digging through it until she came across her purple fighting kimono.

Smiling to herself, Kagome dried off and then put the kimono on.

'That was great, now I need to find Sesshomaru so that we can be on our way.' thought Kagome as she opened the sliding door and walked out into the hallway.

Bowing to a few of the staff members she found the exit and quickly made her way outside, where she found Sesshomaru waiting for her.

"Hello!" Kagome said in a cheerful voice.

"Hello, have a nice time?" Sesshomaru asked her as he started walking on the path toward the outskirts of town.

"Oh yes, it was very relaxing. I'm glad I listened to you. Thanks Sess." She replied, skipping along behind him.

"Sess?" Sesshomaru asked her, thinking of the nickname.

"Yeah, it's your new nickname! Like it?" She asked him coming to walk along side him.

After thinking about it, Sesshomaru found that he actually did like the nickname and nodded his head in agreement.

Kagome flashed him one of her brightest smiles that he had fallen in love with.

"Here, this is for you." He told her as he handed her a wrapped package.

"Ooh a present? I wonder what it is…" She said as she began to unwrap it. Inside she found the beautiful necklace that Sesshomaru had bought her earlier.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared down at it. Tears formed at her eyes and she glanced up at Sesshomaru.

"What's wrong Kagome? You do not like it?" He asked her a bit fearfully, thinking that she may not like or want his gift to her.

"No, it's not that… It's just that no one has ever given me a present before… especially one this beautiful… Thank you Sess, I love it!" She smiled happily as the tears flowed down her cheeks. She launched herself on him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him for all she was worth.

"Kagome!" Sesshomaru said in surprise as his arms automatically wrapped themselves around her and held her weight against his body.

"Thank you so much… so, so much!" Kagome mumbled continuously, hugging him even tighter.

"Kagome… I…" Sesshomaru began, clearing his throat nervously.

Kagome's gaze shifted upwards and she blushed as she realized how close she was to his face. Sesshomaru's intense gaze bore down into hers and she could feel herself getting nervous as a warm feeling spread throughout her body.

"Sesshomaru…" Kagome mumbled.

"Kagome I love you." Sesshomaru said quickly before his nerve left, and he stared at her face trying to read her expression as she went silent.

Kagome's face, he was relieved to find, lit up with happiness as she giggled and looked up at him shyly.

"I love you too, Sess." Kagome said in a whisper and Sesshomaru picked her up, spinning her around in his arms.

Squealing happily, Kagome clung to his form tighter. Once Sesshomaru stopped he set her down gently on her feet and she opened her eyes.

Sesshomaru leaned down and gently captured her lips in his own, giving her a sweet and gentle kiss that made her melt against his form.

He then pulled back and smiled at her as she opened her eyes slightly and grinned back at him, then hugged him again and rested her head against his chest.

'He loves me!' kept running through her mind as she sighed in happiness and closed her eyes slowly.

'I love her…' Was all that the man before her thought, holding her tighter to him. 'And I'll protect her, no matter what.'

It was a short while later that they finally released one another from the embrace. Kagome was smiling like an idiot, and Sesshomaru took her hand and began to walk off from the village.

"Oh, wait!" Kagome said suddenly, remembering the necklace. She held it out to him and looked at him lovingly. "Help me put it on?"

"Of course." He answered, taking the necklace from her hand and wrapping it around her neck, clasping it securely. His fingers brushed against her skin and Kagome fought to surpress a shudder of delight. Once done, she grabbed his hand again and the two continued onward, out of the village and back to hunting down the evil bastard who'd wronged them both.

Sango Tsukino lifted a heavy basket of vegetables up in her arms as she walked back to her home. Her long black hair was shimmering in the afternoon sun, her purple eyes sparkling. She looked up when she walked through the doorway to see her lover, Miroku Eichi, sitting in front of the fire that was glowing in the pit in the middle of the room. She smiled at him when he looked at her, and he winked at her.

Sango had a pretty good life, she figured as she set her vegetables down on a table. Her mother and father lived in the same village as she, her little brother living with them as well, as he was not quite a man yet. She had the love of her life, Miroku, constantly by her side, and they were engaged to be wed by the end of the next two seasons. He was good to her, and loved her dearly.

Getting a few potatoes out, she quickly began the task of peeling and chopping. Tonight she was going to make a special stew for Miroku, to show her appreciation for him and all of the happiness he'd brought her.

Of course, there was a time, she'd been told, in her life where it wasn't all happiness and smiles. Sango had been an orphan demon child. From what she knew of the story, apparently her god-given parents had been killed, her sister not to be found. She was a 3 moon cycles old infant when her adopted family had found her, lying in a basket in the middle of a destructed village. She had been the only one to survive.

Her adopted parents had quickly taken her in, and gave her the name they had found etched on the blanket she was wrapped in. Sango; It was a pretty name. Her younger brother, who of course had been her adopted one as well, named Kohaku, whom she liked to call Haku, had warmed up to her instantly from birth. He was over 6 years younger than she, so her and her parents found it unnecessary to tell him that Sango wasn't his true sister.

Sango was very protective over the boy and had come to love him as a real sister should. She often played with him in the forest, taught him fighting skills and tactics that she had picked up and honed from watching the village warriors practicing, and invited him into her house and to a warm meal at any time.

She slid her knife over the last potato peel, and set the slices aside. Next she brought out some carrots to slice as she hummed a lovely tune to herself and Miroku.

Her eyes darkened slightly when she had, after years of searching and scrounging, found out the name of the monster that'd killed her birth family and village. She'd vowed to always, always, try and find the monster and destroy him, in honor of the ones who'd saved her life.

She had searched and searched for many a year after growing into age of a woman, yet all she'd ever found in the way of finding that demon, that Naraku, were clues and puppets.

So finally, when it came to pass that she'd met Miroku and fallen for him, she settled down a year or so ago and began to make a life for herself in one place.

Yet she knew, that no matter what happened in the future, when the smell of that beast arose, and the energy of him singed at the air it's self, she'd drop everything and track him down, and kill him.

With visions of victory and vengeance dancing in her mind, she continued on with her preparations oblivious to the thoughts of the man behind her.

----

Miroku pondered over telling her what he knew or not. He knew for sure that with the knowledge he had, she'd end up leaving to try and fulfill her self-proclaimed "duty" to her real parents. He didn't want to let her go, didn't want to follow and watch her injured. Didn't want her to do anything but hum her lovely tunes and stay where they were, together and happy.

But he also knew it wasn't right to keep this information from her, not when she'd been waiting all of her life to finally be avenged.

So he had to tell her, he concluded. He'd tell her tonight at dinner, and then talk with her about what would happen, after she gained the knowledge. But for now, he just wanted to sit back and watch her be happy, watch her smile and hum and look at him in such a way that made his insides heat up with warmth and a love he'd never had before her coming into his life.

He truly was blessed. But for how long, he wondered.

--

Sango stirred her special soup one more time before going to get down some bowls. She smiled at Miroku as she passed him, and noticed the thoughtful expression on his face. She wondered what he was thinking about.

Ladling out the soup into the two bowls, she handed Miroku one and took hers, sitting down beside him. As they ate quietly for a little while, she stole more glances at Miroku trying to gauge what it was that he was thinking so hard on. She hadn't a clue.

"Sango, darling, I have something that I must tell you." Miroku said, taking the last bit of his soup into his mouth and then he sat the bowl aside to turn to her.

"What is it Miroku?" Asked Sango as she watched him turn to her and take her hands into his.

Now she was worried, Miroku always just out and said things, he never beat around the bush.

"Well dear… You remember that when you were a baby, your parents were killed, and you've been searching for Naraku ever since, correct?" Miroku said, his gaze not meeting her eyes. He was as scared as she was, but his reason was that he didn't want to lose his love.

"Yes… Miroku just come out with it!" Sango said, now terrified.

"Well, a few days ago I found out that two demon warriors are traveling, one female and one male, together in order to find Naraku and destroy him. They were last seen around the village of Mao-Tai."

"That spa village? That's only a half day's walk from this one! You're sure this information is correct? If so, we must go and join them in their crusade!" Sango exclaimed excitedly.

"We don't know where they are now, Sango, they could be anywhere." He said rationally.

"We've got to try, Miroku, for the sake of my birth family." She said, looking a bit sad as she gazed at him.

Sighing again, Miroku sat and thought about what it would take to track down the two demons, and convince them to let Sango and himself join them, before they were killed by the demons. 'Kami this is going to take a great deal of prayer and hope.' Miroku thought to himself.

"Alright Sango, we'll begin tomorrow. Get some rest, my dear." He said as he got up and left the hut.

Sango smiled gratefully at the door he'd just passed through and set about cleaning up the dinner mess, then laid down to get some rest. Her dreams were filled with revenge on Naraku for her parents that night.

Kagome and Sesshomaru had been walking the better part of a day when they come across yet another village.

"Geez, you'd think that humans would have sense enough to spread out their villages. If there was a raid on the Mao-Tai then this village would fall right with it." Kagome said, coming to a stop next to Sesshomaru.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, this village is of both humans and demons." He told her, studying the village before them.

"Well, should we go ask about whether they have heard anything on the hanyou's whereabouts?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Why not?" He replied, beginning to walk forward into the village. Kagome followed closely behind, staying alert with her hands close to her swords.

"New comers!" A voice shouted from somewhere within the village, and they twosome paused, waiting for either an attack or someone to come out and talk to them.

The latter happened. An old, wrinkly man came out of the main hut. He was a fox demon by the smell of him, and seemed to be the head of the village.

"Kind travelers," The man's raspy voice swept across the village, and many heads poked out of huts, and some of the braver came out and stood behind the man. "I am Kinai Soya, head chief of this village. What is your purpose here?"

"We wish to know any information you may have on the evil hanyou, Naraku." Answered Sesshomaru.

There were a lot of people who gasped, and two of the people in the crowd behind Soya stepped forward.

The man and woman looked at each other, then at the two stanging in front of them.

"Are you the two demons on a crusade to rid Japan of that bastard?" Asked the woman, who looked very familiar to Kagome but she just couldn't place her. The woman was having the same thoughts about Kagome. They both brushed off the feeling of familiarity.

"We are." Answered Kagome, nodding her head at the woman. "I am Higurashi Kagome, the last living decendent of the Higurashi inu youkai clan."

"And I am Sesshomaru Taisho, of the Taisho inu youkai clan." Said Sesshomaru, eyeing the two brave youkai before him. His sensitive smell was all he needed to know that the woman was an inu youkai, and the male was a kitsune youkai.

Nodding in acknowledgement, the kitsune bowed in greeting and replied, "I am Miroku Eichi, of no clan. Born in this village."

The woman next to this Miroku seemed to be slightly nervous, as she was staring at Kagome as if she'd seen a ghost.

"I am Sango Tsukino, of a clan far lost to this world. Until now I thought I was the only living decendent. Now I see different. I am of the Higurashi clan, adopted by another when I was an infant." Sango said, and Kagome went deathly pale.

"W-What did you say your name was….?" She asked Sango, her eyes wide with many a emotion, shock, fear, and something that Sesshomaru could only describe as… hope?

"Sango." Replied the woman, eager at the fact that this Kagome seemed to know her. She was very hopeful to know more about her past, about her parents and where she came from.

"Sango… Do you remember who your parents were, what their names were? Anything at all?" Asked Kagome.

"The only thing I know for certain is that I was named after my birth grandmother, and I only know that from researching scrolls." She replied.

"I see…" The golden haired woman said, in a voice filled with excitement. "Sango, dear, this might come as a shock to you… but I'm your elder sister."


	8. Family Reunited, Target Set

A/n: I know you may be wondering where Koga is during all of this, and also, where the action is. Promise in this chapter the action picks up. I don't know when exactly Koga will be brought into the story, but trust that he will make an appearance.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't worry, be happy.

Chapter Eight, Family Reunited, Target Set.

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The silence was deafening; the breeze had picked up and was scattering stray leaves across the wind, playing with the tendrils of hair flowing freely down the two demoness' backs. They stood there, silent and rigid as a statue. A passer-by would have looked upon the scene as merely something that may have been viewed at a wax museum, the time was so frozen. Finally, after what seemed to the beings involved like a forever, the utterly thick sound barrier was broken.

"Sis-Sisters...?" The utterance came from the woman known as Sango. Sesshomaru took a moment to observe her reaction to the news. She seemed to be anxious, hopeful, afraid, and confused all at once. Then, as if by some magic spell a wall of clarification seemed to fall over the young demoness' face, and the emotion clearly strewn across it was one of pure joy.

"Sister!" The cry was made happily, and Sango launched herself at her newly-found sibling. Their embrace was a fierce one, in which both women were reduced to tears of happiness, and relief.

Sesshomaru felt a profound warmth at the happiness of his love. He was ecstatic that she had found her long-lost family, and vowed then and there to do anything within his power to help protect the two. He glanced over at the rest of the villagers, centering his gaze on the kitsune demon who had been called Miroku. He had an inkling that this Miroku was romantically involved in Sango. He felt himself nod in approval at the strength of the male demon.

Kagome just couldn't believe it. After so long of being separated from her sister, believing her to be dead along with her family, she finally found her. Sango was a beautiful Inu, and she found that their grandmother's name suited her perfectly, as she looked like the spitting image of the loving figure. She was about a foot and a half taller than the onyx-haired woman, and felt very much the part of the elder sister.

Sango, for the most part, felt the exact same way that Kagome did. She was so glad that she'd found her sister, and that she wasn't truly alone in the world anymore, that she couldn't help but increase the pressure of the hug. Kagome laughed and hugged her back equally as tight.

Soon after, Kagome released Sango from the embrace. They smiled at each other happily and stood side by side.

"So, you're going to give Naraku some of what he deserves eh?" Miroku said, breaking the silence.

Kagome nodded her head, turning her attention to the matter at hand. "Yes. If I have to die fighting, that bastard is going down." She told them, Sesshomaru sending her a look that she deciphered as clearly stating 'Over my dead body' when she mentioned her death. Smiling at him, she reassured him of her safety.

"Sister, I have a request." Sango began hesitantly, still getting used to the fact that she had a sister.

"What is it San?" Asked Kagome, giving Sango her full attention.

"Well, before you two came to our village, we'd heard of your travels and of your objective. Miroku and I had made plans to seek you two out and to see if you'd allow us to join you in your mission."

Kagome looked at her sister and could tell that she was indeed very serious about her question. She struggled with herself over her answer. 'I don't want my sister to be harmed in any way, shape, or form... but... it's selfish of me to try and keep her out of what's rightfully her battle as well. Oh, kami, I don't know how to answer that! Mother, I wish you were here...' Sighing, Kagome gave Sango a very stern elder-sister look.

"You two may travel and fight with us, but you're to be perfectly careful. I promise you if you get injured the least of your worries will be Naraku or an afterlife, because I'll kill you tenfold!" She told her.

Sango grinned, nodding her head. "I understand. I promise to be careful."

"Good. Now then, tell me all about your life, your family, and this Miroku guy!" Kagome chirped, slipping her arm through Sango's, and then she began to skip on her merry way out of the village, while leaving Miroku and Sesshomaru to roll their eyes and tag along.

------------------

Naraku was a very busy evil demon. He had a very strict agenda, indeed. First was his daily killing, he liked to keep prisoners in the cell below his castle to kill every day, in the most excruciating way possible. It gave him a boost on moral, and also jump-started his "I'm an evil maniac" mood.

Today, he'd just finished torturing some poor nameless soul into oblivion with the force and power of the seventh layer of hell, when some news was brought upon him by his trusty subordinate, Reiokei.

Was it bad news? No, not by far! Just some imbecile rouge demons trying to take his head and place it on a very finely polished silver platter as usual. Though, the names of these demons did present a slight problem. Aside from himself and the lords of the Northern and Eastern lands, these guys were probably the strongest demons in Japan. It troubled him greatly. From what Reiokei could collect on them, there were two males and two females traveling together, and one male who wasn't traveling with them but had a direct link to one of the males in the group.

Sesshomaru Taisho was one of the group males, which presented a problem of the degree of the fifth layer of hell all on its own, because he was the strongest Taiyokai in all of Japan, and thus far had never lost a battle. Yes, a problem indeed!

Miroku Eichi was the second male in the ensemble, who happened to be the fifth strongest male demon in Japan. He was renowned for having holy powers as well as his Kitsune demon powers. Naraku wasn't too worried about this Miroku character, on his own. But teamed up with Sesshomaru, and Naraku could tell he was in trouble.

Next was the beautiful but extremely deadly demoness, Kagome Higurashi. Apparently, when he'd slaughtered her clan, he'd missed one. Or two, considering who the next demoness was. And, also apparently, seeing as how her father was killed in the massacre, she'd also be the Lady of the Southern lands now. Reiokei believed that she liked to keep that, as well as most of her past, as low-key as possible. Not many people knew that detail about the inu woman.

Sango Tsukino was the last one of their group, and happened to be the Higuashi's baby sister. Whoops, missed another one. She was probably the least strongest in the group, but still that's not saying too little about her, seeing as who the other group members are, and who she's related to.

Then, the single demon who was after him was Sesshomaru's kid brother Inuyasha. 'Psh, a bug on the wall.' Naraku thought, reviewing what Reiokei had told him about the Inu.

'Hm... Well, first I'll have some fun and burn down the village that Sango and Miroku are from, and then I'll track them down and put an end to their meaningless lives.'

-----------------------------

A/n: Please read and review, thanks!


	9. A Sudden Confrontation

**A/n: Sorry it's been a while guys. Been busy, guess what?! I'm engaged now! Yay me. So anyway, I know you guys probably don't care and just wanna get back to the story so I'll make this short- I don't have an inkling as to when the next chapter will be written, we've come to the point in which I haven't written any chapters, remember I told you at the beginning most of them had been written? Well anywho, I'm planning on finishing this story soon, so keep an eye out, and also after the last chapter, I'll have a seperate page dedicated to my reviewers, everyone will be mentioned, so early thanks to you guys and make sure to review! Enough of my jabbering, on with the story!**

Disclaimer- I do not own Inuyasha, Rumiko does.

-Chapter Nine-

-**A Sudden Confrontation**-

* * *

Kagome laid on her back next to her little sister. They were staring up at the clear blue sky, talking about their lives and everything they'd missed in each other's pasts. 

They had been traveling together for a week now, and the siblings had gotten as close as they would have if fate had permitted.

Sesshomaru and Miroku had hit it off rather nicely as well, and you could frequently find them sitting together discussing philosophy and battle strategies, among other things.

Surprisingly, Sango had taken the news of having a sister rather well, and had immediately warmed to the idea.

She'd jumped on her sister, holding her in an embrace that was both loving and breathtaking, literally. Kagome had to tell her sister to ease off, lest she suffocate.

Both sisters were truly happy, and after agreeing to have Sango and Miroku along with them, they had become connected at the hip.

"So what's up with you and that Sesshomaru guy?" Sango asked, winking at Kagome and giggling.

"Oh," Kagome said, glancing at Sesshomaru and then going into a giggling fit along with her sister. "He's courting me. What about you and that Miroku?"

"We're engaged to be married." Sango told her, blushing slightly.

"Wow, how long were you together before he asked you to marry him?" Kagome asked.

"About a year to two years, we were in love the entire time."

"That sounds so romantic." Kagome told her, sighing softly. She imagined herself and Sesshomaru courting for that long, and then him popping the question in a very romantic way.

Sesshomaru looked over at the girls and caught Kagome staring at him. Blushing, she looked away quickly and smiled secretively.

"We've got to go to my home in order to prepare for the battle to come." Sesshomaru said, walking over to the girls with Miroku following him.

"I agree. Once we begin the battle, we've got to be at our best. We'll have no time for mistakes, so we'd best make sure there are none to regret." Miroku said, nodding his head, his tail swishing from side to side.

"How far are we from your home, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, standing up and then helping her sister to stand as well.

"About a day and a half's walk, but there's one more thing." He said, "Inuyasha lives there with me, and he may be there now. He comes in and out of the house so there's no telling."

"Oh, well, I'm sure if he's there we can just ignore him." Kagome said and smiled brightly. "So let's get going!"

-

Kagome was very excited to see where Sesshomaru called home, and imagined that it was a very beautiful and spacious mansion. What she thought in her head about it, and what she saw with her eyes, were two quite different things.

It wasn't a mansion, not by a long shot. And it wasn't beautiful, oh no. It was a friggin' castle, and its enchantment and appearance was rivaled by even the owner himself.

The castle was made out of stone, its color black and dark grey. The windows were glass panes that seemed as if they would open outwards. There were three towers, two on the Western side of the castle and one on the Northern. The front faced the South, and its two front doors were made of wood.

On the doors there were intricately carved designs depicting a fierce battle between a dog demon and a dragon demon both in their animal forms; there was drawn fire surrounding the battle, the full moon high above the two clashing foes.

Surrounding the castle were trees of all shapes and sizes; cherry blossom trees, weeping willows to name a few. Flowers were all around the court yard, encasing the trees and flowing in beautiful patterns all over the grass.

To say Kagome's breath was taken away would be a vast understatement.

"Welcome to my home." Sesshomaru said, leading the way to the front doors.

The doors seemed to open by themselves, and as the group entered the castle, they found that it was just as beautiful as the view from outside of it. There were portraits lining the hall that they entered into, each one had a name underneath it on the frames, and each one were apparently dog demons from the Taisho line.

Kagome looked at the pictures and found that she didn't recognize any of them except for Sesshomaru, though his father did look vaguely familiar.

As she was studying the picture a bit closer, there came a loud crash from up the stairs, then Kagome heard;

"Damnit I said I wanted to see my damn brother! I don't give a fuck if he's got visitors with him, I have a bone to pick with that asshole!"

"But sir, you mustn't make a seen in front of the Honorable Lord's guests! Oh, what would your father say? That would be simply terrible to have on the Western lord's reputation! Imagine, inhospitable? The horror!" Someone, who must've been a high ranking servant, said in a shrill voice.

"Didn't you hear me the first time? Get the fuck outta my way!"

From atop the stairs, a figure clad in red came into view. Kagome glanced from her sister's giggling form to the stairs and instantly recognized Inuyasha.

-

Naraku sat on top of his throne, surveying the village that he had just ordered to be burned down. Where once stood a proud trading village, now rest a wasteland. Trees, grass, ground, buildings, and people were all charred, mattered with blood and flesh, and some were still smoking from the fires.

Grinning, he watched a little boy running down what was once a street, the boy's flesh burning and rotting off from the fire on his clothes that he just couldn't seem to put out no matter how hard he tried to.

This was the type of world he could have fun with; a world full of hopes and dreams and lives, which he could cross out with only the movement of an index finger. With only two simple words- "Burn it."

But before he could accomplish his dream, he had to do some house cleaning. He'd start with the golden haired wench, since she and her mutt lover were stirring up the most trouble.

"Show me the wench." He said to his white-haired lackey, Kanna.

Her mirror emitted a blinding white light, and then it faded away to show Kagome and Sesshomaru, fighting each other one-on-one in what appeared to be a dojo.

Close to them there were two demons, one a dog demon, and one a fox demon, also fighting. It appeared as if they were training for something or other.

"Ah, so they are preparing them selves for my arrival. I think I shall give them one more day, let them prepare as best as they know how, and then they shall see that their best isn't good enough against me!" Naraku said to no one in particular, and then began to laugh manically.

"Naraku." A voice said from his right. He turned and looked and found his servant, Kagura, there.

"What is it?" He snapped at her, annoyed at being interrupted.

"The sacrifices you ordered from the village before we burnt it. There's a demon within them."

"A demon you say? Tell me, what is his name?"

"He says his name is Prince Koga."


	10. Of Love and Tears

A/n: Oh my GOD I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry about how long it's been! I had completely forgotten about this story until I was looking at my author's page. Damnit I'm sorry guys. To make it up to you, I give you the next chapter to Fate's Mistake… I'm very sorry!!!

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I expect reviews for this people! Reviews make the world go 'round OO. Well, okay, maybe they don't, but they sure help to inspire me to write. If you love me, you'll review '

To let you know, this story will most likely be concluding on the eleventh or twelfth chapter. If you want an epilogue after the final chapter, make sure to review and let me know!

Enough of my meaningless pleading, on with the story!!!

-Fate's Mistake-

Of Love and Tears.

---------

Kagome jumped away from Sesshomaru, wiping the sweat from her forehead. They'd been training like this for hours, unrelenting. She was sore, had more cuts and bruises than she could count, hungry, and tired. But still, she pressed on; there was no way she'd be a liability when the battle came. She planned on being in all of her ass-whopping glory.

Sesshomaru charged at her again, bringing his sword down on her left shoulder. Dodging it, she quickly swiped at his back, not expecting it to hit. She hadn't laid a single scratch on him thus far. Which is probably why she was so surprised when it did hit.

Grimacing, she withdrew her weapon and checked the wound, finding that it wasn't very deep.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." She told him as he turned to her. She could see a smirk on his lips and felt slightly nervous, and slightly turned on. He was hot when he was all evily-smirky.

Sheathing his sword, he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her flush against him, staring down at her with an intensity that make her stomach flutter. Kagome opened her mouth to ask him what he was staring at, when he brought his face down to hers and kissed her with such a ferocity that she was momentarily stunned.

Regaining her senses, she kissed him back. His grip on her tightened, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her sword fall forgotten on the dojo floor.

Once breathing became a necessity, they reluctantly pulled away from one another.

"Sess, I…" Kagome started, but was interrupted by another kiss from the demon she loved. His hands began to roam her body and it was all Kagome could do to suppress a moan of delight. Griping him tighter, she pulled away and looked at him through half-closed lids.

"Kagome… I want your permission to make it official." He told her, cupping her cheek in one hand, he continued, "Know that I will never leave you, I will always protect you, and will never break your heart. Become my mate, sweet, sweet Kagome."

Kagome gasped at what he was asking her, thinking about it. She still had to tell him her secret; she didn't want to become his mate without him knowing who she was. But you bet your ass she definitely wanted to be his mate!

"I have to tell you something before I give you my answer, and I hope you'll understand." She told him, pulling away from him and letting her arms fall at her sides. Sesshomaru felt a sharp pain in his heart, thinking that she was about to reject him. "I'm… Sesshomaru, I'm the Lady of the Southern Lands." She said quickly.

Surprised, he stared at her, not saying anything. While he was contemplating this fact, Kagome was fidgeting, not knowing what her love was thinking.

"Nothing could take my love away from you, koi." He told her, reaching forward and taking one of her hands in his, "I understand your need for secrecy, and I hold no hard feelings over you neglecting to tell me this fact."

Sighing with relief, she smiled the brightest smile that she'd ever graced him with.

"Yes Sesshomaru, make me your mate." She said.

Without wasting any time, Sesshomaru lifted the girl into his arms and rushed off to his bedroom.

---

"You're WHAT?!" Sango screamed, staring at her older sister disbelievingly.

"I'm now Sesshomaru's mate." Kagome repeated, glowing. It'd been a few hours since it had happened, but she already had her mark. There was a small silver crescent moon under her right eye, showing off who she belonged to.

Sesshomaru also had a mark, he now bore a black rose on his left shoulder blade, symbolizing that he was forever hers. She couldn't be happier.

She and her sister were sitting outside the castle, in the gardens. Both sitting on the ground, Sango still hadn't closed her mouth from the gaping shock that she was in.

"I do hope that I am not interrupting anything." An unfamiliar voice said from behind the two women. Standing quickly and unsheathing her sword, Kagome turned to the figure that had spoken, her sister beside her with her sword drawn as well.

"Who are you, and what is your business here at the western lord's castle?" Kagome asked, suppressing a growl.

"Oh, hush pup. I'm not here for a fight. My name is Reiokei, servant to Naraku." At this, there was a sudden tension that filled the air, and Kagome's growling intensified tenfold, joined by her sister's.

"Anyone that is involved with that despicable half-breed is not welcome here, leave now or die." Kagome ordered.

"As I said, Lady Kagome of the Southern lands, I'm not here to pose a threat. That will come at another time. I'm here with a message from Naraku." He told them patiently, smirking evilly. "The message is this- Get ready for war. Tomorrow evening Naraku will be here, along with his allies, to wage war upon the Western lands." With that, Reiokei disappeared, one last message ringing in the air long after he'd gone.

"Sango, precious Sango, it seems you've found your family, but have lost another. What's a girl to do? So sad, so sad."

Sango's heart dropped to her feet. What was this guy talking about? 'Wait… THE VILLAGE!' she screamed in her mind, taking off in a dead run in the direct of her village. There was no way that they were gone. Her mother… father…. Haku… NO!!

"Sango, no! Don't, you don't know if it's a trap or not!!" Kagome screamed, running as fast as her legs would allow her to, following her distraught sister.

All of the yelling outside brought the men's attention, and Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Miroku all came running out during the last message. They hadn't made it in time to stop the two girls from running off, and proceeded to follow them at a mad dash.

Sesshomaru caught up with Kagome and ran along side her, looking to make sure she was okay. When he was satisfied with the fact that she was indeed alright physically, he questioned her.

"What has happened, love?" He asked.

"Naraku sent a messenger to us. His name was Reiokei, and he told us that we should prepare for war. Naraku and his allies are attacking tomorrow night." She said, keeping up with him perfectly, her eyes never leaving Sango's back. She felt like the worst sister in the world, she hadn't been able to protect her little sister from the pain she was in now.

"Alright, but that doesn't explain our race to break the sound barrier."

"He left another message for Sango; apparently the village they lived in was attacked."

"What? That's completely underhanded! I'll kill that murdering bastard!" They heard Miroku yell from behind them, rage clearly written on his face.

It wasn't long before they reached Sango's adoptive home, and found it in ruins. Smoke was billowing out of some of the half-standing huts, bodies lay everywhere. Most were burned to the bone, some had suffered from blood loss, and others were still screaming in agony, not far off from their maker.

The sight and smell nearly made Kagome gag, but she stilled her stomach, keeping a close eye on Sango as she ran ahead of the men who had stopped and stared in shock.

She came across a small child, his clothes had been burnt off, and what was left of his skin was a disgusting brown color, with yellow puss starting to form already. He was crying, wincing every time a salty tear fell on his sensitive flesh.

"Please…" She heard the boy whisper, and bent lower to hear him properly. "Please… h…elp m…me…"

Feeling tears form, she knew this boy couldn't be helped. Pulling out a small dagger, she felt her heart pound against her chest at what she had to do.

"Shhh… It's alright child… just close your eyes, your pain will end soon…" She told him, her voice nearly breaking as she told him this. She forced herself to be strong, and as the little boy's eyes closed, Kagome lifted his head carefully, and slit his throat.

Within seconds the boy was dead, and Kagome felt like she was going to be sick again. Tears poured down her face and she dropped the boy's body, backing away on her hands and feet. She kept staring at the boy, and felt her lunch come up.

She quickly turned over and retched, emptying her stomach completely of its contents. Once that was done, she started sobbing into her hands.

'That monster… this is just like the day he…' Kagome was drawn into her memories.

--------------------------------------------------

_Kagome giggled, watching her little sister try and grab the toy dog she was waving around in front of her._

It had been three months since the day Sango was born, and her family was happier than ever. Her mother had forgotten about her bad feeling that day, and everything was normal again.

Her father came into the room and put a hand on Kagome's shoulder, smiling at her and Sango.

"My little princesses." He told them, picking up both Kagome and Sango and cradling them in his arms. "I love you both."

"I love you too papa!" Kagome told him, smiling brightly. Life was perfect!

An explosion caught their attention, and her father put her down on the ground, handing Sango to her.

"Put our little San into her basket and go tell your mother that I might be late for dinner. I've got to go check this out." He told her, giving her a tight hug.

"Papa, please be careful!" Kagome cried, hugging him back tighter. Sometimes it sucked to be the family that ruled the Southern lands, but she pushed that aside and ran to do as her father said.

"Mama! Papa said he might be late for dinner, there was an exoplosion he went to check out!" Kagome yelled as she entered the kitchen.

Her mother smiled at her softly, putting a hand on her head. "That's explosion, Kagome. And thank you, dear. You may go play now. Stay close to the village though!" Her mother yelled as Kagome cried with glee and ran out of the hut.

Finding Yuki standing in front of her house, she grinned and Yuki followed her as they snuck out of the village and into the nearby forest.

After an hour of playing tag, Yuki threw a fit when she lost again and decided she wanted to go home. Kagome pouted.

"Fine! Be a baby then, go on and run back to your mom!" She yelled at her friend, causing her to tear up and run off toward the village.

"You're so mean, Kagome, I hate you!" Yuki yelled back to her as she ran away.

"Hmph!" Kagome huffed, turning and sitting down on the hard ground, sulking.

Two hours later, Kagome walked out of the forest toward home. She glanced up when she caught the smell of a fire, and another smell she didn't know.

"W…what?!" She gasped as she saw the state of the village. Huts were burning, people were running around on fire, and there was blood everywhere.

She quickly ran into the burning village and covered her nose, coughing a little on the smoke. Her eyes were tearing from fear and smoke catching them, but she pushed forward.

She finally saw her family's hut and saw that it was also on fire. Terrified, she ran into the hut to find her mother's body laying in the main entryway. She dropped to her knees and shook her mom.

"WAKE UP MOMMY! WAKE UP!!!!" She screamed, crying her eyes out.

Her mother's limp figure was already cold, despite the heat inside the hut from the fire.

Her mom was dead… Kagome finally realized this, as she saw blood pour out of a wound in her mother's side.

Dad. Sango. With a new urgency, she stood and ran through the hut, trying to find her father and her sister.

She couldn't find them anywhere inside the hut, and ran outside to try and find them. She felt like she'd been searching forever, when she finally found her father's limp form on the road leading to the village.

_He was dead as well._

Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she needed to keep her emotions in check so she could find her sister. Hopefully, she wasn't too late to save her.

Running back through the village, she spied a demon ahead of her, a weird looking demon. His entire body was covered in a baboon cloak.

She was very, very afraid of this man. But what really grabbed her heart, was the fact that he was standing in front of a cowering woman, who was using her body to hide a basket from the intruder. Kagome recognized that basket and the movement within let her know that her sister was inside of it.

She started toward the three people, and had almost reached them, when a hut to her left exploded and sent Kagome flying into another hut, hitting her head and knocking her unconscious.

---------------

A/n- The memory continues in the next chapter. I was going to continue this one until the memory was over with, but I've a bad case of carpel tunnel right now and I can barely finish typing this. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and aren't too mad at me. To let ya know- The more reviews I get, the quicker I get a chapter out. Reviews truly do inspire me to write.

Anyway, thanks for reading!


	11. An Odd Betrayal

A/n: Here's the eleventh chapter of Fate's Mistake. Hope you guys enjoy, the next chapter is the last one. Remember; If you want an epilogue, you have to let me know. There's only one way of doing that! Review!

An Odd Betrayal

The air around the dining table was stuffy and seemed frozen. Sango was quiet, had been since they'd gotten back from the village.

Kagome and Miroku were worried about her, and even Sesshomaru was concerned though he didn't show it. They couldn't get her to talk, and she had to threaten her little sister just to make her join them for dinner. They needed their strength, and she wouldn't be any help to them if she was weak from hunger. That's what she'd told Sango, and it had worked.

Now she only slightly regretted her decision to force Sango to dine with them; Every two seconds it seemed that her sister was fighting back tears.

It broke Kagome's heart to see her like that, she kept her gaze steadfast on her food so she wouldn't have to endure the torment behind those eyes.

It seemed as if not only that would spare her sorrow, for if it weren't her sister's tears, she saw the little boy dying in her memory, which sent a pang of guilt and anger surging through her being. She wondered if whatever gods might be had a heart, she didn't think that they did.

"Kagome, please don't play with your food. Eat." Sesshomaru quietly commanded, making everyone jump as the eerie silence was disrupted.

"Yeah Kag, listen to your master like a good little pup!" Inuyasha intoned, smirking.

His chair suddenly flew backwards, and he hit the floor with a thud. Growling, he held the lump forming on his head from where the saucer of vegetables had hit him.

"Bitch…" He muttered, righting himself and glaring daggers at Kagome.

"Mutt." Kagome replied back, then stood. "Sango, let's go for a bath."

Silently, Sango stood from her seat, her food untouched. She followed her sister to the hot springs inside the castle.

Inuyasha stormed out of the dining room, Sesshomaru had no doubts that he was off to sulk. Ignoring his brother's departure, he continued to consume his meal while taking note of the quiet kitsune sitting down the table from him.

"I just don't know how to help her… She's in so much pain, and yet, I don't know what to say or do to take away her heartache." Miroku said quietly, lifting his eyes to Sesshomaru. "I don't know why I'm telling this to you, but I feel as if I don't, I'll go mad. What should I do?"

Sighing at the fact that he knew the fox wasn't going to leave him be, Sesshomaru resigned himself to answering the young demon.

"Show her you love her, and that you're there. Make her realize that she didn't lose everything today. That's all that I know to tell you." He told the other demon, finishing off his meal.

"How would I do that…?" Miroku asked.

"You'll figure it out."

Kagome lay within Sesshomaru's arms in their bedroom, silently pondering her sister while playing with his soft, silver hair.

"Kagome, if you don't stop that, I will be forced to take you." Sesshomaru growled softly, catching her hand in his and kissing her knuckles one by one.

"I'm sorry Sess, it's just that I'm so worried over Sango. Do you think she'll be alright? Honestly?" Kagome replied anxiously, staring sadly at Sesshomaru as he bestowed his affections on her hand.

"She will be fine, you've just got to give her time. You've had years to cope with the fact that your family is gone, her heartbreak is still fresh. You'll see with time that she will discover that she's not as alone as she feels she is. Be ready for that time, Kagome, for when it does come I have no doubt she'll need you to be there for her." Sesshomaru told her, wrapping her more securely in his arms and pulling her tightly against him.

Kagome sighed sadly, nodding at the truth of what he had said. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close, burying her face into his neck.

"I just hope she can pull it together for tonight… I can't stand the thought of her being distracted and getting injured."

"I will help you keep an eye on her. Know this Kagome; I love you, and I would never want to see your tears. As she is your sister, so is she mine, and I will do all that I can to protect you both."

"Oh Sesshomaru, I love you so dearly…" Kagome replied, fusing her mouth with his.

Sango sighed sadly, staring out into rapidly descending sun. She didn't know what she was going to do, and honestly that scared her; She was afraid she'd be blinded by rage, and would attack blindly.

She didn't want to put anyone in the position of having to look after her, she was a stronger woman than that. She didn't need coddling, she'd made herself independent, but here she was, moaning over her loss and realizing that she wasn't quite as strong as she had believed herself to be.

She'd lost her strength when she had lost the only family she had left.

"Sango… May I speak with you?" She heard Miroku's voice behind her, and she quickly stood and went to him.

"What is it, Miroku?" She asked of her betrothed. He and her sister were the only ones keeping her together right now.

"I wondered if you might do me an honor…?"

"Yes…?"

Before answering, Miroku quickly drew her into his arms and held her, leaning to whisper in her ear; "Become my mate today Sango, let me show you that all is not lost. We'll make a family of our own, my love, one that will never be ripped from us."

Tears filled Sango's eyes as she heard his sweet promise, and she held him tight.

"Miroku… You can't promise that, you don't have control over the future…"

"For you, my dear Sango, I'd bend time. I'd tear through the very fabrics of reality with my claws, if only to see your smile again."

"Sweet Miroku… I would love to become your mate today. Show me something aside from pain and sorrow." She told him.

And he did.

Naraku watched as his first wave of demons advanced toward the castle of the Western lord.

He thought of how they'd find them, cuddling together in bed with their so called "Loved ones", unprepared for their strike. He grinned evilly as he thought of how easy this was going to be.

"You honestly don't think it will be that easy, do you?" Kagura asked her master, floating beside him on her huge flying feather.

"Shut up Kagura, I did not ask for your opinion. Go play with your pet, and leave the scheming to the ones who know how to do it." Naraku snapped, clearly agitated that she had even questioned his scheme.

"That wolf is not my pet!" She shouted at him indignantly, coloring slightly at the mention of Koga. She had gotten to know the wolf, and vice versa. The two had formed a kind of love-hate relationship, they loved to be with each other and hated what each other stood for at the same time. Kagura hoped that once she received her heart back, she would be able to pursue a romance with the young prince.

"I grow tired of your whining, leave me be!" Naraku roared, grasping her heart into his hand and squeezing it.

This is what Kagura had been waiting for. She and Koga had formed a plan to get her heart back, and even though she was in a great deal of pain, she had to carry it out.

Whipping out her fan, Kagura thrust it into the air toward Naraku. Blades ran from the fan and cut his arm, causing him to drop her precious item.

Soaring toward it, she caught it in mid air and quickly took flight toward the tree line. That was where she'd stashed Koga.

Once there, she quickly grabbed his hand and hauled him up onto her feather. He grinned at her and she felt her, now restored, heart flutter.

Taking to the skies once more, she flew straight to Sesshomaru's castle to warn the occupants of the battle quickly coming toward them.

Naraku's shouts of "Traitor," "Get her!" and "I'll kill you, bitch!" fell on deaf ears.

A/n: You know the drill, review. As for the memory scene, I've decided to wait to finish it, until the next chapter.

Oh, and for those of you wondering at the lack of detail in some of these chapters; Once the story is complete, I'll be doing a major over-haul to clear up my vagueness and will probably be adding scenes to some of the chapters. I don't know when that will occur after this story is complete, but it will happen. So everyone look forward to the next and final chapter of this story!


	12. Family

A/n: Here it is, the final chapter of Fate's Mistake. Wow, just seems weird that it's finally over. Everyone give me props! First posted and finished multi-chapter story! Go me! And remember, if you want an Epilogue, review and let me know.

Even though this story is finished, no matter what the date you're reading this in the future, be sure to review!

Here it is, guys;

Family

Kagura urged her flying feather to go faster as she saw the castle crown on the horizon. Those people were her only hope in escaping Naraku unscathed, and she wasn't going to destroy that hope by being too slow.

"You really think they'll believe that you betrayed Naraku and are trying to warn them of his approach?" Koga asked her, he was sitting on the feather behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist so he didn't fall off. He was holding onto her a bit tighter than necessary, but she didn't mind it at all.

"Well, they can believe me or not, either way it's the truth and they'll find it out the hard way." She replied, not letting herself worry over the possibility.

"Hopefully it won't come to that." Koga sighed, staring behind them at the many demons that were following. He knew it was a very slim possibility that they'd reach the castle without having a horde of demons descend upon them. "Can't you get this thing to go any faster, 'Gura?"

Smiling at the nickname he'd given her, she shook her head 'no'. This was as fast as she could go without causing harm to her body by over-exerting herself.

"Then we'd better pray that it's enough." She heard him say, and agreed worriedly.

Kagome shot awake, her eyes going wide. She had sensed something sinister, yet familiar, in the air and it worried her. Quickly she shook Sesshomaru, trying to wake him up.

"What is it, love?" Sesshomaru asked groggily, running a hand over his tired face.

"Sesshomaru, I feel as if something bad is about to happen. I need to check on my sister!" She shouted, suddenly realizing that her sister may not be safe.

Kagome jumped out of bed and sprinted, close to an all out run, to her sister's room down the hall.

Once she arrived, she barged in without knocking and stopped short once her vision landed on the bed.

Her sister and Miroku were intertwined, asleep, and naked. Gagging slightly, her color rose and she slowly backed out of the room.

"Is your sister alright?" Asked a now fully awake Sesshomaru, who had closed the door to their room after exiting it, just as she'd backed out of her sister's room.

"Uh… yeah… she's perfectly fine, probably more fine than normal." Kagome said, eyes close to popping out of her head.

"Alright… want to tell me what this is all about?" He asked, gesturing to her wide-eyed expression.

"Not really…" She replied, shuddering at the thought of what she'd just come across.

"Well then, since we're awake, why don't we head into kitchen and get something to drink? You can tell me more about this bad feeling of yours." Sesshomaru said, taking her hand in his and leading the way.

Inuyasha sat in a quiet part of the gardens outside of his brother's home, brooding to himself. He was high up in a tree, leaning against the rough bark, while he glared at anything that came within his line of vision.

He didn't understand how he'd been tricked into fighting a battle that had nothing to do with him, and he was silently reflecting on everything that had happened since he'd met up with his brother and his brother's mate.

For the first time in his life, Inuyasha found himself cursing his mother. He was blaming her for bringing him into this world with a few screws loose upstairs. Not that he'd ever, EVER, admit that to anyone. But that's what got him into this mess, wasn't it? Him being stupid enough not to realize that he needed to get far away from this situation.

But, the odd group of people who now inhabited his home had become a sort of family to him, regardless of them actually being his family. He felt more connected to them than he'd ever felt towards someone of his own blood, like his father. To his complete mortification, Inuyasha found himself thankful that his brother had mated and introduced three new family members to the Western line. He wasn't so alone anymore.

Annoyed with himself for being mushy and at his situation, he settled back against the tree to try and get some much needed rest, and time away from his irritating thoughts.

Unfortunately, the gods seemed to have it out for him, he decided as he caught whiff of Naraku.

'Shit.' He muttered and took off running to warn the rest of his family.

Miroku made his way down to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water, a smile permanently planted on his features. He finally had Sango as his mate, and she had come out of her remorse long enough to give him the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her face.

At that moment, life couldn't be better for the fox demon. He entered the kitchen, and things went back to hell.

"I'm telling you, I'm not here to hurt any of you! Naraku is on his way at this very instant with an army of demons at his disposal! He'll stop at nothing to destroy every last one of you, including me now that I've betrayed him!" A woman with black hair and red eyes was yelling at a red-faced Kagome who was holding a sword very dangerously, and a silent Sesshomaru who was standing back, letting his mate handle this.

"How are we to believe anything you say, you are Naraku's servant!" Kagome screeched back at Kagura.

"Can I say something?" The prince wolf demon, Koga, intoned hesitantly. Miroku had met the man before, once when he'd dropped by their village to buy supplies for his clan who lived in the mountains close by. He'd always seemed like a nice guy, so Miroku wondered what he was doing consorting with the enemy.

"NO!" Kagome screamed, having had it. "I don't care what your story is, or who you think you are, but nothing you or this evil, sly bitch will say is going to change my opinion. You're both liars and this is obviously some evil ploy by Naraku."

"Well if you believe Naraku's capable of conducting sinister means before the allotted time is up, then why in the seven hells won't you believe that he's on his way here this instant?!" The other woman shouted in challenge, having also had it.

"Kagome! Sesshomaru! NARAKU'S COMING!" Inuyasha yelled as he ran into the Kitchen.

Growling, Kagome threw her tea cup at him and hit him right between the eyes.

"WOULD YOU ALL SHUT THE HELL UP?!" A very agitated and now awake Sango screamed as loud as she could, glaring at the occupants of the Kitchen she'd just entered.

She'd been in a peaceful slumber, when the annoying voices of her sister, two people she didn't know, and then Inuyasha invaded her mind. Needless to say, she was pissed.

"Don't worry Sango, I'll have these idiots dragged out by their hair in a jiffy." Kagome rounded, advancing toward Kagura and Koga.

"Stop." A quiet voice said, and everyone turned to stare in shock at Sesshomaru.

"Excuse me?" Kagome half-yelled.

"I said stop, Kagome. Act with some decency." He told her, and her mouth dropped. "And use your nose. Naraku _is_ coming. And he's close, as well; We need to be preparing for battle, not arguing over the obvious."

"Well I… you… I mean… Aw fuck it. Fine, what's our plan?" Kagome gave up, and Kagura and Koga smiled at each other.

Inuyasha twitched on the floor and groaned.

Kagome was dog-tired, she'd sliced left, slashed right, parried, and blocked to her extent and right now all she wanted to do was drop, but she wouldn't. She was determined to see this thing until the end, and with how many demons they'd already taken out, the end was in sight. Naraku was only a few meters away, cackling madly at whatever joke he'd made up in his head that no one else got.

"Insane son of a piece of tree bark…" Inuyasha thought he heard Kagome mutter, and he paused briefly to stare in confusion at her.

"Pay attention, damnit!" Kagome screamed, shoving her bloodied sword through the stomach of a demon that was about to hit him. More blood poured onto her sword and hand, and she was now drenched in the putrid liquid. "I don't have time to cover your ass as well as mine, so focus!"

"Whatever!" Inuyasha shouted back at her, and went about his business; swinging his sword around him wildly. Kagome knew that he had some sort of swordsman skills, she just wondered when she'd see them. So far every enemy he'd hit out of luck.

Rolling her eyes, she advanced through the horde and got closer to Naraku.

"Haha! Dance my little puppets! DANCE!" Naraku bellowed, and every ear, including on his own side, winced at his insanity. "Slice and dice, make fried rice!"

"And this is the guy who we've all feared for the past thirteen years." Muttered Sango, glaring at the stupidity of the situation, while swinging double blades at any who got to close.

"He's just doing it to throw us all off, you know that, right? He wants us to think this will be an easier fight than what we know it to actually be." Miroku said from beside her, swinging his weapon around and cracking a demon's skull with it.

Stabbing her sword into a demon's eye socket, much to her horror, she grimaced and went back to what she was doing, minus one sword and eyeball which she'd thrown away in pity for her nauseous stomach.

"Yes, well, he'd best be careful, lest someone believe he's _actually_ insane."

"Oh my you're quite right, dear. He wouldn't want that at _all._"

Swinging his sword forward, Sesshomaru smirked as the last demon fell. Now it was just them and Naraku.

"Are you so eager to be destroyed, Western lord?" Naraku asked, noting the happy expression on Sesshomaru's face.

"No, eager to do the destroying, actually." Sesshomaru replied, glaring at the person who'd tormented every person he held dear to him.

"And what of Kagura? Did you destroy her as well?" Naraku asked, wondering what had become of his less than faithful sidekick.

"She's far beyond your reach now, Naraku." Miroku said, standing next to Kagome.

"Oh really? Well, once this is finished I'll be sure and drag her back within it, kicking and screaming if need be."

"I'll die before I let you win this, Naraku!" Kagome screamed, and Sango nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, dear girl, that can and will be arranged." And with that, Naraku shot out a dozen tentacles at Kagome and Sango, who both sliced them away.

"So it's begun." Miroku intoned, and the five demons started their fight.

Soon, they all had Naraku cornered, all heaving for breath and utterly exhausted, but none willing to give up. Naraku was an inch away from defeat.

"You think you've won? I ALWAYS have a trick up my sleeve!" Naraku roared, and with that he pulled a very unconscious Kohaku out from his body. It appeared as if he'd absorbed the boy.

"NO!" Sango screamed, tears filling her eyes for two reasons; She was scared to death of losing her brother, and was more happy than she'd ever been of finding him to be alive.

"Make one wrong move," Naraku cackled, preparing the point of a tentacle right beside the boy's throat. "And your precious little brother is dead."

Kagura and Koga had been in the shadows while all of this was going on, and once she saw that the fight was at a stalemate, she knew they'd have to act.

"Koga, do you have any sharp weapons on you?" She asked the wolf, and grimaced when he pulled a dagger out. She was hoping that he'd have said no, so she could stay out of evil's reach.

"Stay here. I don't want you getting involved in this, alright?" Kagura asked of the prince.

"Gura, wait…" Koga said, and fiddled a bit with his fingers. "Be careful, alright? I don't want you getting hurt."

"Aww, Koga that's sweet. Don't worry about me though, you know I'm tougher than that. I'll be just fine." She told him, all the while hardly believing it herself.

"In any case… if something DOES happen… I wouldn't want you to pass away without doing this first…" And with that, Koga promptly fused their lips.

"You monster! He's a child!" Sango screamed at Naraku, and if it weren't for Kagome's hand on her arm, she would've already leaped at the evil idiot before her.

"So were you, my dear. Once upon a time ago, remember Kagome?" Naraku taunted the sisters, who both started growling in rage.

"Naraku, this is low, even for you." Miroku said, glaring.

"Nothing's too low for that jack ass." Came Inuyasha's eloquent remark.

"I agree." Sesshomaru said, ignoring his brother's shocked expression.

"YOU AGREE WITH ME?"

"Hello? People? Evil man of insane idiocy has boy of innocence in a very dangerous position, can we focus here?" Kagome asked.

Everyone went back to glaring at Naraku, trying to think of a way to get past his defense.

Kagura crept silently toward the arguing group, her scent masked by one of her spells. The dagger was clutched tightly in her hand, and no one noticed her approach.

Once she was close enough, she thrust forward and the dagger met flesh.

Naraku gave off a hideous roar, flinging the unconscious boy away from him and swinging around. His eyes landed on his once minion and they glowered.

"How very fitting of you, Kagura. Perfect, really, you're showing your true colors now. First you betray me and then you, quite literally, stab me in the back. I applaud you." Naraku said menacingly, and just as he'd reached out to break her neck, four swords impaled him from all sides.

Sesshomaru, Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha had a sword sticking in Naraku's flesh, and as he turned toward the final member of the group, he was met with a sword to the neck, beheading him.

"It's over." Kagome sighed, flinging her sword away. "Finally."

"Kohaku.." Sango murmured, taking off towards her little brother.

They were all back at the castle, in the family sitting room, mulling over this and that. Mostly, Kagome was feeling very lost. She'd spent her whole life on one thing; Revenge. Now that she'd gotten it, she didn't know what to do with herself anymore.

Kagura and Koga and been accepted to come back with them, and ultimately Kagome had apologized to Kagura for not believing her in the first place. Though, everyone understood that she was just on edge, and they had all felt the same as she.

As they all sat in silence, a sudden bright light engulfed the room.

"Awaken, children." A soothing voice whispered in their ears, and begrudgingly they found their eyes opening against their will. They were all so sleepy.

As Kagome's eyes opened, she saw two figures standing before them. Everyone stood up and regarded one another, trying to figure out where they were and who the two people before them were.

"I can see you do not remember us, as is to be expected of course. Shall we introduce ourselves again?" The female of the two questioned, and everyone nodded slowly.

"I am Feiari, and this is Ateni. We are the guardians of The Crossing, which is where we all stand now. The Crossing is where all of the dead souls go to be judged, and then sent on their way." The female, Feiari, said.

"The reason why you're here is because it is time for you to remember your past." Ateni finished for his mate, and smiled at the group, who all had questions flashing through their minds.

Feiari snapped her fingers, and everyone suddenly had images and words speeding through their heads.

"_SIT!" Kagome screamed. "I'm going home whether you like it or not, you can't stop me Inuyasha!"_

"Feh, whatever!" Inuyasha growled, Sango and Miroku shook their heads at the argument that seemed to happen every time Kagome mentioned the 'H' word.

"_Why are you here, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked his brother._

"_I am here to offer my allegiance with your pack. I have my own reasons, but the same goal as yours; to defeat Naraku no matter the cost." Sesshomaru told his brother._

"_Hell no you're not!" Inuyasha screamed._

"_Sit." Kagome said quietly. "I think it's a good idea."_

"_SHIPPO!" Kagome cried as she saw her surrogate son fall to the ground, lifeless._

"_We're going to send you back to right fate's mistake. You all have one wish."_

By the time it was over, Kagome was reeling. She'd had to grab a hold of Sesshomaru to keep herself standing. The two looked at each other as if they'd never met before, both equally shocked to find that in this reality, they'd been in love.

Koga and Kagura glared at the other, Koga growling as he realized his love was the person who'd destroyed his everything.

Sango and Miroku embraced, both happy with their outcomes in both lives.

Inuyasha 'Feh'd' at everyone around him, and returned his attention to the angels before them.

"As now you remember, we've done what was meant to be done. Fate has been set right again, and the next time we meet won't be for a long while. We wish you luck in your lives." Ateni spoke to the group.

"And we apologize for the mistakes that Fate had made." Feiari spoke softly, and with that, everyone was sent back.

They were all seated at the dining table, enjoying their last meal together. Koga, Kagura, and Inuyasha had decided to go their separate ways, not wanting to deal with each other, nor, in Inuyasha's case, his brother.

Sango and Miroku along with Kohaku were off to reconstruct their village with the few who remained, and to settle down.

Kagome wasn't sure what she would do. It was odd to wake up and find that your lover was once your second worst enemy.

Although, enjoying their last meal was probably a typo. Everyone was screaming at each other, threatening one another and trying to just generally make their lives miserable.

Sighing, Kagome stood and cleared her throat. She had something to say, and she wanted everyone to listen.

When she realized that it hadn't worked, she tried once more. Still nothing.

Suddenly, a loud bang caught everyone's attention and they all stared at Sesshomaru, who'd slammed his fist on the table.

"I believe Kagome has something to say." He said quietly, and that was the first thing he'd said since they had returned earlier.

Now, everyone switched their attention over to her.

"Well… I just wanted to say that this fighting is ridiculous. We're a family, no matter who we were before or what we did. We're different people now. There's no more animosity, turmoil, rivalry, or race issues to separate us. In this life, we got along, even loved one another, and there's no sense in throwing it all out just because we once led a much different life. I mean, I love Sesshomaru, and I plan to continue doing so until I die. I don't care that he once tried to kill me, or that in our past he'd never spoken a word to me. We're all different now, and that's what matters. This really wasn't a mistake at all, the way I look at it. Everything turned out for the better, much more so than what would have happened had fate not had an error in it's plans. So, that's all I wanted to say… I'm going to go to bed now." Kagome said softly, then turned and began to walk out of the room.

"She's right, you know." Sango said. "I mean, if it hadn't been for that so-called mistake, I would've only ever wished for her to be my real sister, or had Kohaku returned to me in one piece."

"Nor would I have found love in my enemy…" Koga said, and smiled at a blushing Kagura.

"Feh, there's nothing different now than there was then! Even being a demon I'm as strong as I was then!" Inuyasha said, huffing.

"That could be attributed to your worthlessness, but for now we'll let the question hang in the air." Sesshomaru said jokingly, then got up to follow his mate.

"HEY! Say that to my face you jack ass!" Inuyasha yelled.

Kagome was walking aimlessly down the hallways, consumed in her thoughts as she trudged along unseeingly.

She bumped into someone and glanced up to become face-to-face with the man who occupied her thoughts.

"Sesshomaru… I'm sorry. I was just thinking, and wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Kagome mumbled miserably.

"Kagome, why are you so sad?" Sesshomaru asked her softly, placing his hand under her chin and raising it so her eyes would greet his.

"I just… Even though we had our differences in the past, I don't want this new information to be the end of us… I meant what I said, I love you Sess."

"And I you, little one. Nothing so trivial could change that." Sesshomaru told her, bringing her body closer to his in a hug. He kissed her passionately and she felt all of her worries fly out the window.

"Mama!" A little girl with silver hair cried, running to her mother. "Shippo pulled my hair again and called me ugly!"

Kagome sighed and picked up her daughter.

"Sweetie, I've told you that he's just saying those things to annoy you. He doesn't mean it, Rin."

"But then why does he say them?"

"Because he's jealous that he's not the only one receiving your mother's affections anymore." Sesshomaru said to his daughter, having come outside to speak with his mate.

"Oh, okay." Rin chirped, happy now. She gave her mother a hug, then ran over to do the same with her father before running off again.

"Those two will be the death of us, sweetheart." Kagome sighed good-naturedly, running her hand across her round stomach. "And this one will send us right to our graves."

Chuckling, Sesshomaru sat beside his wife and told her the news.

"Sango, Miroku, Koga, Kagura, Inuyasha and Lii are coming over tomorrow."

"And they're bringing their monsters with them, aren't they?" Groaned Kagome, thinking of Sango and Miroku's five kids, Inuyasha and Lii's three, and Koga and Kagura's seven.

"Sorry to say so, darling." Sesshomaru drawled. "At least Rin will have Kirara, Mina, Syli, and Lira to play with."

"Yes, that's true, I can't believe how great of friends Rin and Kira have become. They're practically inseparable."

"I agree with you. But it's nice to have our fiery children distracted for a few hours." Sesshomaru grinned.

"Oh, yes it is indeed." Kagome laughed and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Well, I best be finding said fiery children and letting them know the news." Kagome continued, allowing Sesshomaru to help her stand. As she walked away, Sesshomaru stopped her.

"Kagome, I'm glad it turned out this way. I can't stand the thought of missing out on your love and our children." He told her.

"See? Just like I said all those years ago. It wasn't a mistake at all." Kagome beamed at him.

-----------------------

A/n: Holy hell, I can't believe how long this thing has gotten. I never expected it to hit fifteen pages on Microsoft Word.

Now that it's over though, I feel about as Kagome did- Lost, but happy with the outcome. I hope to see some reviews, I'm very excited about finishing my first story, and like I said, I'm going to probably go back eventually and polish up the other chapters. I won't touch this one though, I love the way it turned out and I practically combed over it for two hours to ensure that it didn't come out looking ridiculous.

I think this was probably the best chapter of this entire story, which is funny to me because it's the last. I'm proud of it though, and I'd love for you all to tell me what chapters you liked the best.

I don't think I'm going to do an epilogue after all, I think this chapter pretty much covers what it needs to, but maybe I'll think of something in the future to add. For now though, it's complete.

Thanks to all of my reviewers, I would have never finished this story if it weren't for you guys!!

**Thanks To:******

Fluffy'sLady

Ichigo-2007

**Black Roses of Death**

Mangadreams

**Scorpion-2-ur-Poison**

**Talenyn**

Sesshomaruswomancanthavehim

**Cochrann**

**Dark.Kagome.Demon**

**Raspberrysorbet**

**BloodCherry**

**Kim**

**Edorani**

**KoriYoukaiHime**

**YugamiTheDemonWolf**

**HowCanYouWalkAwayWhileIAmCryin**

**Callie-yue Lost dreams******

Thank you all so much!!! This story would be nothing without your support!


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